The board is on schedule with its "aggressive timeline" to hire a new superintendent, Commissioner Norman Yee said on Thursday evening at a meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Personnel. So far, the search firm has about 15 to 20 applications, but search leaders said they expected some of the best candidates to apply toward the end of the search to protect against leaks and rumors. The board expects to have all the applications in and begin conducting interviews by the second week of May.

The board will meet as a Committee of the Whole on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to discuss how its role should intersect with that of the superintendent. "We'll be hearing for the first time then about what we have" in terms of applications, Yee said. "But we won't know about a lot of these folks until the last minute."

Committee Considers New Administrative Positions

The committee discussed three new administrative positions it is seeking to fill, one to manage funding and programs associated with Proposition H, the Public Education Enrichment Fund; one to coordinate the district's newly adopted Small Schools by Design Initiative; and one to conduct internal financial audits.

Yee said he expected all the positions to funded through either outside or dedicated funds within the district, rather than unrestricted funds, where the district is facing the most budgetary pressure.

Board members considered the value of hiring an internal auditor. Discussion has come up regularly over the years that the district might save money by having someone investigate spending. At the same time, district financial advisor Joe Graziola said, it should be someone who could create real operating efficiencies. "Just looking to see where we can save money, we do every day," he said.

Board members directed staff to write a job description for the internal auditor position so they would know more specifically what it encompassed. Staff has begun recruiting for the Prop. H coordinator position, although the Prop. H budget has yet to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. One of the district's senior staff members will assume the post of small schools coordinator, according to staff member Orla O'Keefe.

Board Votes on Cuts to Paraprofessionals

Later, the board reconvened to vote on whether to lay off 16 paraprofessionals. The cuts were narrowly approved, after members wrestling with issues of how much the move would save the district and whether there were other options. Commissioners Yee, Jill Wynns, Hydra Mendoza and Jane Kim voted for the cuts; Commissioners Mark Sanchez, Kim-Shree Maufus and Eric Mar voted against them.

"The elephant in the room is that were in negotiation with the union and we want to do everything possible to show we're negotiating in good faith," Sanchez said.

One of the biggest issue was concern over the seniority of the individuals involved. One has 25 years' experience with the district, and many others have long histories of service as well. District staff said that, because many of these positions have not been filled in a long time, there are no less senior staff members to lay off. But Yee observed, "When you've been in the district 25 years, it doesn't make any sense you can't do anything else within the district."

There was also concern about the accuracy of the $680,000 estimate that staff said the layoffs would save the district. "That seems like a large overestimation given the salary numbers we're seeing," Mar said. Staff, for its part, defended the numbers, saying the district has worked from every angle to reduce the layoffs to the lowest number possible. "I can't stress the enough: we do not like taking this before the board, and we take this very seriously," O'Keefe said. "Nobody is putting their thumb on the scale."

The affected employees will be encouraged to apply for open positions within the district, mainly in special education and child development. Last year, the district was able to re-employ 19 of the 38 employees it laid off.

Some 300 teachers and school employees gathered before Tuesday night's meeting to turn up the heat on contract negotiations with the district. The teachers hope to have the contract decided by the end of the school year. So far, however, union representatives say there has been little discussion on key issues, namely across-the-board pay increases and increased benefits for paraprofessionals.

United Educators of San Francisco, the teachers union, is calling for 6 percent raises for its members. The figure, according to union President Dennis Kelly, represents a 4 percent cost of living increase — the same amount given from the state to the district — and the growing costs employees are paying for health insurance. The union is also calling for contract changes that would give paraprofessionals, the assistants who support teachers in the classroom, the same rights as teachers, including bereavement leave, paid time off for jury duty, full binding arbitration for disputes and enhanced retirement benefits.

In spite of the spirited rally, Kelly said the feeling about the negotiations was "much different" this time than two years ago, when a tense relationship with district leadership helped push the teachers to the brink of a strike. This board has generally been more supportive of the unions, including setting up a special committee to deal with personnel and labor issues at the behest of board President Mark Sanchez.

Board Considers Paraprofessional Layoffs

Later in the meeting, the board took up the issue of whether to lay off 16 paraprofessionals. The school site councils have turned in their budgets, and several have identified paraprofessional jobs as an area that could be cut. Employee groups, however, took umbrage at the proposed job cuts. Public school activist Kim Knox pointed out that the board is also deciding on whether to hire three new administrators, at salary and benefit costs of about $100,000 each. One of the paraprofessionals up for a layoff has been working for the district since 1982.

Chief of Policy and Planning Myong Leigh also observed that as the number of students in the district continues to drop, the number of adults serving those children will also decline. Union leaders asked if temporary paraprofessionals, of which their are 450 in the district, could be laid off instead.

The board decided to reconvene after Thursday's Personnel Committee meeting for a vote on the issue. If the paraprofessionals are to be laid off, notices must be sent out by Friday to go into effect at the end of the school year, according to a state law requiring 45 days' notice.

Update on Proposition H Debate

Briefing the public on discussions with the Board of Supervisors, Commissioner Jane Kim said the two bodies had reached an agreement on how to define so called in-kind services, those that the city will give the district instead of cash under Proposition H. They agreed on several things, according to Kim:

In-kind services will cover only new services to the district, not thing the city already provides.

A committee will be developed comprising members of the Proposition H Citizens Advisory Committee; the city's Department of Children, Youth and Families; district staff; and the city controller's office. That committee will develop a list of potential in-kind services.

There is no need for the district to put a minimum dollar amount on the use of in-kind services in the next year.

Board members asked what to do about a pending resolution that called for including at least $2.5 million in in-kind services in the next year's Prop. H plan. The resolution was controversial as it represented a large increase over this year's use in-kind services, valued at $250,000. Sanchez, the author of the resolution, has the authority to hold off on the measure. "I don't plan on bringing it before the board any time soon," he said.

Opponents have said using in-kind services limits the district's ability to employ Prop. H funds and robs it of cash to start new programs.

New Programs Open to Serve Hearing-Impaired

Staff working on a program started in 2005 to serve deaf and hearing-impaired students gave the district an update on it progress. In the past two years, the program has hired an administrator and developed a structure. Now it is involved in actually establishing programs in the schools.

This year, the program has opened a learning center for 18- to 36-month-olds at Tule Elk Child Development Center, which uses both sign language and spoken communication. It has opened a K-2 speech-based program at Cesar Chavez Elementary. Magnet programs with special services for deaf and hearing-impaired students have been established at Claire Lilienthal Elementary, Lilienthal and Aptos middle schools and John O'Connell High School. A pre-K program including both speech and sign language is scheduled for completion in October.

Bus Drivers Honored

The district presented an award of commendation to the San Francisco bus drivers, who not only have an excellent safety record but have also pitched in countless hours to support children and the district in their off-duty time, according to board members. The San Francisco bus drivers have never had a fatality, either on board or with students crossing the street to get on and off. Bus driver Brock Estes applauded the efforts of drivers like Jose Perez, who has saved the lives of at least two people in his duties by calling 911 and administering first aid.

The joint Board of Supervisors and Board of Education committee opened its meeting by recognizing Ed Wilkins, SFUSD student nutrition services director, for his service to the district. Commissioner Jill Wynns read a proclamation of commendation that listed Wilkins’ many accomplishments. It stated that Wilkins is responsible for serving hot meals to thousands of SFUSD students each day, in addition to working to develop and implement the district’s healthy food and wellness policies. His other achievements include maintaining the district’s “No Child Left Hungry” policy, in which children eat lunch regardless of whether they can pay for it, and helping nutrition services become more fiscally sound, all while maintaining “a wicked sense of humor.”

Committee Makes “In-Kind” Services Recommendations

The main business of the meeting was a discussion of the planning process for the Public Education Enrichment Fund (Proposition H). The Board of Education's Budget and Business Services Committee had previously considered a resolution to accept $2.5 million of Prop. H funds in in-kind services from the city instead of cash for 2007-08, the third year of Prop. H funding. The resolution was controversial because it did not specify that the in-kind services would be new services. Under the resolution, services the city has long provided to the district could be counted as fulfilling Prop. H requirements. The Budget and Business Services Committee sent the resolution to the joint Select Committee for consideration.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who helped author Prop. H, addressed the committee first and stated that the authors of the proposition meant new, not existing, services when they wrote that in-kind services could count toward the city’s Prop. H obligations.

Myong Leigh gave an update on the district's implementation of programs funded by Prop. H and the district’s plans for spending next year’s Prop. H funds. A representative from the city controller’s office reported that the spending plans for next year meet all Prop. H requirements and that the controller’s office recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve the plan. She also stated that one third of the total Prop. H funds each year could be supplied in in-kind services instead of cash, which would mean the entire “third third” that is allocated for general education support could be provided in in-kind services. (One- third of the Prop. H funds go to support sports, libraries, arts and music in the schools; one-third goes to the First 5 Preschool for All program; and one-third is designated for general education support.) Finally, the controller’s representative recommended that the district come up with more frequent and more outcome-based performance evaluation measures for evaluating Prop. H funded programs, and said an audit of Prop. H expenditures would begin in the fall.

Commissioner Jill Wynns responded to the controller’s report, stating that she was “stunned” to learn that the entire third third could be provided in in-kind services. She noted that the money had been used so far almost exclusively to put new staff in schools and that the district did not want to lose positions it had added for general education support.

Gloria Corral, deputy director of First 5, gave an update on the implementation of the Preschool for All program, and then the floor was opened to public comment. Many speakers emphasized what a difference Prop. H funds had made to their schools or programs and almost all emphasized that they believed any in-kind services should be new, not existing, services.

Christina Wong from Chinese for Affirmative Action and parent activist Cindy Choy both urged that any in-kind services be both new and directly connected to education and academic achievement. Lorraine Woodruff-Long, Parents for Public Schools executive director, asked the committee to be sure all contributions were new, not existing, and reminded committee members that while in-kind contributions were important, schools are very cash-strapped.

Several parents commented that their schools were already seeing big improvements from Prop. H funds, and students Adrienne Long and Devin Vyas from Miraloma Elementary School and Anna Rubenstein from Aptos Middle School provided reminders that the purpose of Prop H is to benefit children.

Dana Woldow gave several recommendations of how in-kind services could directly support district priorities, including IT staff to help man a new point of sale system Student Nutrition Services hopes to implement in school cafeterias. Margaret Brodkin, director of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families, spoke on behalf of Mayor Newsom. She stated that the mayor supported interpreting Prop. H in-kind services as “new services starting today.”

After public comment, Commissioners Jane Kim and Hydra Mendoza both emphasized that in-kind services provided under Prop. H should benefit kids at schools and support the priorities of the school district. Commissioner Kim suggested that the controversial resolution could perhaps be put on hold and noted that there had been some fear that the Prop. H spending plan for next year would not be approved if the resolution were not accepted.

Commissioner Wynns said she was pleased that everyone was on board with in-kind services being new services, noting that concerned parents had flooded the Board of Education with emails and phone calls on the issue.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell proposed that a small group should get together to come up with a list of in-kind services the city could provide that would support district priorities. Supervisor Bevan Dufty agreed that Margaret Brodkin’s office, the Prop. H Community Advisory Committee, and district staff should work on the list of services with input from the Controller’s office.

The committee voted to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors, the Board of Education and other involved parties recommending that any in-kind services provided under Prop. H be new, additional services and that the small group develop a list of appropriate services. The committee also agreed to recommend putting the proposed resolution on hold as the list of services was developed.

Supervisor Maxwell also expressed concern that art instruction funded by Prop. H include culturally sensitive arts so that children “know and value everyone’s art.” She requested a hearing to evaluate whether this was being accomplished under the district’s Arts Master Plan. That hearing was tentatively set for May 3.